


Stranger Things

by jennity



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, catfishing with a side order of unknowingly-requited-love, love letter lunacy, mentions of creepy and inappropriate behavior by Unkar Plutt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 03:07:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8732386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennity/pseuds/jennity
Summary: Stranger things had happened than an accidental catfish, right? At least, Ben thought so? But maybe it wasn't such a good idea to drag his best friend into a three year love-letter chatlog affair with his stranger. With his Rey.In which Ben and Rey fall in love over the internet but Ben ends up giving her Hux's picture because he was too afraid she wouldn't like him. And they both find out.For EJ <3





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EjBlaKit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EjBlaKit/gifts).



> So the prompt for this was "love letter lunacy". I don't know if this really hits the nail on the head or not, considering it's more chatlog and aftereffects, but I tried? I'm sorry in advance, lovely. <3
> 
> Unbeta'd because I suck at deadlines so I didn't really have time to do the thing.

Armitage Hux was not one to mince words, least of all with his best friend Ben Solo.   
“Solo, you absolute asshat!” Ben flinched a little but ran his hand across the back of his neck, nodding wearily in assent. “Yes. Yes, I know, Hux, but you have to help me. I can’t… I can’t fuck this up.”  
“You already fucked this up,” Hux hissed, smacking his friend on the side of his head, “and now you’ve dragged me into your stupidity. Thanks for that, Kylo bloody Ren.”  
Ben drew himself up as tall as he could from his normally slouched posture, gaining an inch on his friend. “Look, I know. But it’s not just about me fucking myself over...It’s important that I...well, we help her.”  
Hux gritted his teeth, jaw clenching in frustration. He had been hearing his friend drone on about this...this girl for three years. Three. Fucking. Years. And that’s what she was, a GIRL, because goddamn it Ben had to go and fall ‘madly in love’ with jailbait.  
And then use his goddamn picture to impress her.  
“Well you’re just going to have to suck it up and tell her the truth, she’s not going to find Kylo Ren with your personality and my face just by coming to the city to see you--”  
Ben cut him off. “I know, I know, but she’s not just coming here to visit.”  
“.....care to elaborate?”  
“She’s in trouble.”  
“Of course she is. Ben, she is trouble. How old was she when you first started talking?”  
Ben flushed with embaressment, his ears turning red. “We didn’t exchange details like that for a while…”  
Hux arched an eyebrow. “She’s, what, 19? Recently?”  
An intake of breath.   
“Yes.”  
Hux’s eyes narrowed. “So she would have been sixteen when you two started your little...correspondences. Ben, that’s disgusting.”  
Ben balked, insulted that his friend had so little faith in him.  
“We didn’t do anything. We just talked. Hell, most of the time it was just about design and then… we just got closer. I had no idea she wasn’t older, she was in fucking college, ‘Tage,”  
Hux pressed his hand to his forehead breathing in deeply through his nose and clenching his eyes shut to ward off an impending stress headache.  
“Okay, I get it, but you should have asked about her age. That’s like the first fucking thing you’re supposed to do when talking to a student.”   
Ben looked completely checked out, his teeth gnawing at his already red and swollen lip. He’d been pacing around their small apartment for the better part of three hours, trying wildly to figure out his situation before he finally had the courage to explain to Hux what he’d done.”  
“So, if she’s in trouble... “ Hux sighed, sinking down onto the leather couch and tossing his head back to stare at the atrocious popcorn-ceiling. “Is it legal, or monetary?” He scowled, assuming that she had either figured out who he was and his money just by doing a reverse picture search on the internet, or Ben had let slip his family background and connections with a certain senator.   
“Neither, really? But also kind of both?” Ben collapsed next to him, his body coiled with tension the vein at his temple throbbing visibly. He wasn’t just nervous. This wasn’t one of those situations where his dad had warned him, “women always find out…” He was terrified.  
“What the hell does that mean, Solo?” Hux growled out.  
“Her...Her former guardian. She ran away shortly after we started talking more...intimately, before I knew how young she was.”  
Hux glowered at his friend. “Not explicitly, just emotionally intimate, don’t look at me like I’m a goddamn predator, ‘Tage,” Ben snapped at him.  
“She ran away?”  
“Yes. And she’s been living with her friend and his boyfriend for a while, between trying to finish school and working.”  
“And?”  
“And...her guardian found her.”  
“Well, she’s an adult now. She should be a grown-up and deal with whatever family bullshit she has just like the rest of us,” Hux muttered bitterly.  
“Her guardian isn’t family and her bullshit isn’t just like ours…” Ben sighed exasperatedly. “It’s not my story to tell but… Her parents died when she was really young. They’d just moved Stateside, and didn’t know anyone, didn’t have family.” Hux frowned, observing his friend fidgeting with the zipper on his hoodie. “The first person to foster her couldn’t afford her anymore, or something stupid, she didn’t really touch on that. But… Plutt.” He spit the name out with more venom than Hux had ever heard from him before, which was impressive given Ben’s wild temper.  
“He wasn’t a guardian. He really is a predator. She managed to get by without having been completely violated,” his fists clenched tightly digging crescent shapes into his palms, “but he was nothing but inappropriate, vile, foul, and cruel. Starving her, overworking her, making lewd and inappropriate comments and touching. Not ever going farther, but she knew that he was just biding his time. She lived with that fucking piece of shit for over a decade, ‘Tage.”  
Hux heaved out a sigh. Yeah. This was way too complicated for him to want to deal with.   
“She got out at sixteen on a scholarship for gifted students. That’s how she met her friend Finn, and how she got into the program that let her to the site we met on.”

 

Ben was a game designer, developing cutting-edge technology and bending the rules of gaming. He was hooked from his first computer and took machines apart for fun. Once, he disassembled Hux’s work desktop just for fun to see how it worked. If he hadn’t put it back together as well as he did, [with fucking improvements…?] their friendship would have been over. Because Armitage Hux was a hacker by trade. He was the programming brain and Ben was the technology and creation expert. At one point when Ben was bored he began giving tips to newbs on the internet, particularly to students who were starting off in development and engineering majors. His advice raked in fair chunk of change and a very good reputation online as Kylo Ren, his forum handle. 

 

“So she got out of that hell and now…”  
“Now he’s found her. At Finn’s. And he’s threatened her. And he’s had a PI follow her. She needs to get out of sight and lay low… and she has nowhere else to go.”

 

“So..you want her to stay here?” Hux asked, incredulous. “You must be out of your godsdamn mind, Ben.”

 

“Tage, I know this is crazy but-”  
“You want this child to come and stay with us, with you, who has been lying about his identity, and me, who she thinks you fucking are?”  
“She’s...she’s not a child. She just needs help. And I can’t let her down ‘Tage, I can’t. I… I love her.”

 

Hux sucked in a sharp breath. He wasn’t surprised. Not really. Ben’s been smitten about her since before he knew who she was. Ben’s been smitten with her from day one, when she beat his ass on a topic he was expert one. But...it stung. It stung hearing him say it aloud.

 

It stung when his Ben, who had been a constant presence in his life, who had depended on him and whom he had depended on...Ben, with his stupidly beautiful face and his godsforsaken infuriating yet also endearing personality… Ben was in love with this...this girl. This stranger. This Rey.

 

\---------------------------------------------------

 

Three days later

 

Ben had given ‘Tage binders full of chatlogs. Ben had printed out almost every exchange, and had had photos of her printed at the pharmacy and inserted into plastic sheets. He had begged him to study their conversations, to try to understand how they interacted. Hux had spent the first night grumbling about it, noticing a few pages missing every once in awhile and scowling, imagining that Ben had taken out the smuttier bits to protect her modesty. After the second night, he started to understand how this girl had captured his friends’ heart. She was brilliant, and funny. He noticed with a frown that any mentions of him were conspiculously missing, though Ben had confided in her about his family. Was he really that unimportant? That Ben wouldn’t even mention him? As a friend? As a roommate? His heart throbbed painfully with disappointment and he tried to swallow it down with the reminder that it didn’t matter anyway because even if he was important, she was more important to Ben and he had to do what he had promised for him. He almost felt comfortable picking her up from the bus station with Ben that day, and was nervous for himself and for Ben, and also nervous to meet this storm of a girl who had fascinated Ben and begrudgingly earned Hux’s respect and… maybe affection? But not too much, obviously. He hoped she would like him, and then hated himself for wanting that because she was supposed to like Ben. She did like Ben. He had to remind himself of that. 

 

“....Kylo?” The voice was timid. Accented, curiously, which he hadn’t expected. They had both turned on their heels at the sound behind them, swiveling to the small frame with bright hazel eyes and a leather jacket three sizes too big that fell around her wrists with a….surprisingly sexy adorableness that he’d never experienced before. He didn’t know what he had expected, but it wasn’t this. It wasn’t her. It wasn’t...Rey.

 

“Erm….Ky...Kylo? It’s… it’s me?” She phrased it like a question, and his eyebrow quirked up. Why were her eyes locked on his? Why was she looking to him and not...Ben. Ben, who elbowed him sharply in the ribs. 

 

Right. Right. Ben, the fucking giant, towering, coward who told this girl that he was Kylo. Ben, the absolute asshat whose jaw is slack staring at the woman he’s in love with as she looks with heart eyes at him. Him. 

 

“Rey,” came Hux’s curt greeting, nodding and extending a hand for her to shake. Flashes of surprise and hurt crossed her face and Ben shifted, shooting him a glare that Hux could feel burning into his side. “Uh… Sunshine?” Hux corrected awkwardly, remembering Ben’s nickname for her, lowering his hand just as Rey had extended hers to shake. He fumbled for a moment before awkwardly bringing her hand to his lips for a kiss and dropping it like a hotcake. The three stood in the middle of a traffic-heavy corridor of the bus terminal, staring at the ground, or wall, or ceiling… wherever they could to avoid the gazes of the other two.   
Ben cleared his throat loudly, bringing two sets of startled eyes to him. “Rey,” he breathed, adoringly, and her eyes widened in surprise and a look of anxiety overcame her as Hux observed her chewing on her lower lip much in the way Ben did. “It’s nice to finally meet you,” he stepped forward as if to lean in for a hug but stopped himself in time, bowing his head and sending her a stiff smile instead. “I’m Ben. Ben Solo.” He looked to Hux. “This is, well… well you know. But his name IRL is Armitage Hux.” 

 

Hux nodded hastily. “Hi,” he managed to huff out. 

 

“Shall we head back to the apartment?” Ben tried weakly. The other two nodded and followed behind him as he took her meager belongings and made a beeline for Hux’s car.

 

The ride home was largely silent. Ben was chewing his lip between trying to prompt conversation amongst the three of them, and it was looking close to bloody raw by now. Hux drove, eyes fixed on the road and jaw clenching and unclenching in time to the windshield wipers that fought to keep the pounding rain out of his line of sight. Rey sat in the back, picking at a string from her baggy tee shirt and anxiously taking her hair out of her elastic, tugging at it for a few minutes and retying it again for a few moments before repeating the process. 

 

When they arrived at the complex, Hux eased into his normal space and hurriedly unbuckled, barely putting the car in park before yanking the keys from the ignition and hurrying out and up to the steps of their home, unlocking it and disappearing into the living room. 

 

Rey stared at his retreating back in awe from the darkened backseat as she and Ben sat silently, listening to the rain hitting the roof of the car. “So…. He’s...different than how I pictured him…” Rey confessed, sighing out a half-laugh. 

 

Ben cleared his throat “Oh?” He tossed her a look over his shoulder before turning his body towards her. “How so?” He was sweating and terrified of her response and part of him was thrilled she didn’t take to Hux and part of him was pissed that Hux wasn’t doing well enough to comfort her. 

 

“Uhm… well…. He’s just.. Not like he is in chat.”  
“Oh?” Ben echoed, voice a higher pitch than usual for him.   
“Yeah. He’s so friendly and open and engaging online. And… I was… this sounds stupid, I know… God, I only just met you and you’re letting me stay here and I’m freaking out about your best friend… I don’t mean that I don’t like him. I do. I just… I was kindof expecting him to...want to see me?” She sounded like she was holding back tears but she was resolutely staring out the window to her left, avoiding Ben’s gaze. 

 

“He’s just not sure what to do with himself,” Ben replied, voice gruff and feeling desperate. He knew that those words applied to both Hux and himself. “Kylo really cares about you,” he murmured, breath catching in his throat. “He never stops talking about you. I’ve been told it’s… ah, I’ve told him it’s really annoying actually,” he laughed awkwardly. 

 

Rey laughed quietly to herself. “Does that mean you know why I’m here?” She sounded like she already knew the answer but she asked it anyway. Ben frowned. “It was discussed. Nothing detailed or anything, just that you needed a place to crash because of someone from your past,” he hedged. 

 

Rey hummed in thought. 

 

“Do you think he’s disappointed?” she asked quietly, so quiet that Ben almost missed it through the pounding rain outside. “By you? Never. Just...just himself.”

 

Rey hefted a sigh. “I suppose we should get inside before he starts to think you hit on me or something,” she laughed drily. Ben quirked an eyebrow. “You think he’d…?”

 

She shrugged. She didn’t respond as she unbuckled and plucked at the door lock. She grabbed her bag from beside her and sprinted up to the stairs, pausing on the stoop before Ben brushed past her to open the door and usher her in.

 

By the time they had entered and shucked their coats, Hux had already set down three mugs of piping hot tea. “Uhm… I figured we could all use a cuppa,” he offered weakly. 

 

Rey shot him an appreciative but shy smile. 

 

They guys settled onto the couch as Rey sat herself on the rug, legs brought up to her chest. “So…. the infamous roommate?” Rey 

 

Hux tilted his head to the side as Ben sputtered and coughed on his tea. “What?” They both asked at the same time, shooting one another a look, panic in Ben’s eyes and suspicion in Hux’s. 

 

“No, nothing, I just… see what you mean?” Ben started coughing and she quickly turned to him to reassure him. “He didn’t say anything bad about you, I swear. Just that you’re...tall. And attractive and… well sorry, I’ll stop now.”

 

“Attractive?” Hux asked, voice higher than normal. He studied Ben’s reaction which was flushed with humiliation. 

 

“That’s…” Ben cleared his throat. “That’s, um, very generous, ‘Tage, thanks…” Ben muttered.

 

Rey thought Ben was embaressed as the receiver of the compliment, completely unaware that it was Ben who had confided in her about his tall and attractive roommate.   
“No, do go on, Rey. Tell Ben everything I said, it’s really nothing to be embaresed by,” Hux prompted, eyes never leaving Ben.

 

Rey stiffled a giggle at the discomfort between the friends. “Yeah, I see it.”

 

“See what?” the two men asked again.

 

“Your...relationship. It’s really quite something.”

 

Ben squeaked, a noise Hux had never heard from him before. “Yes, it’s quite something,” Hux hummed in agreement. “What was it that I told you about it in particular that you’ve been able to pick up just from the last hour?” he asked, glancing at Rey.

 

“Well, Kylo...or, erm, I guess Armitage?” Rey started. “I kindof expected you to… Well, I understand how weird it is to meet me after all this time. But I understand now.. About the thing.”

 

The silence settled awkwardly. “Pardon me for a moment please,” Ben excused himself, ears red and face hot as he headed to the bathroom to splash water on his face.

 

Rey watched him go and took a deep breath. “Kylo, I see why you love him,” she said quietly. “He’s very sweet,” she sounded sad but she smiled. Hux stared at her blankly. “Pardon?”

 

“I mean, I know it was always unsaid, but… You should tell him how you feel.”

 

“No, no, you don’t understand, he doesn’t...he doesn’t love me,” he said ruffled and confused as he unbuttoned the top of his collar and tried to breathe deeper. “I mean, you… you’re…”

 

She shifted uncomfortably. “Kylo, I know it’s weird to see me, I’m sorry. I honestly wouldn’t have imposed if I had anywhere else to go, I don’t want to get in the way…” 

 

“You… You’re not in the way of anything. Rey, you don’t know how… how important you are,” he said quietly. “You really are like sunshine. Bright, and beautiful and blinding…”

 

She looked at him curiously. “You...you think…”

 

She gathered her courage and brought herself up to him on the couch. “Kyl….uh, Armitage,” she started, reaching out for his hand. “You...you know how important you are to me too. I… I’ve been in love with you for the last two years… I mean, of course I was probably pretty obvious. But… I know you didn’t want me because I was so young and… then there’s Ben. But… I thought maybe… when we met, maybe we could try it out? It’s okay if you don’t want to, I understand, I just….” she trailed off anxiously, her eyes darting his mouth where his tongue had brushed over his bottom lip. 

 

She leaned in and traced the place his tongue had swept before gently pressing her lips to his. He breathed in sharply before pushing her away, “I’m sorry, gods I wish I could do this but I can’t, I really can’t.” 

 

She drew back as if burned and flushed a dark red. “I’m… I’m sorry, i shouldn’t have done that,”

 

“No, no, Rey… it’s just… Ben,” he started to explain desperately. He loved Ben. And She loved Ben. And Ben loved her. “I, I understand I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she said, eyes wide and holding back tears. She stood abruptly and excused herself to hide in the room where Ben had plopped her suitcase. Ben’s room. Ben’s bed. Ben. Ben, Ben, Kylo bloody Ren, BEN.

 

As if summoned, the flustered giant returned and looked around at the room scanning for Rey. He spotted Hux’s conflicted and strained expression and Rey’s absence. “What happened?” he asked quietly, afraid to know the answer.

 

“Ben, you have to tell her. I can’t do this,” Hux said quickly, standing to pace around the livingroom. 

 

“What are you talking about? ‘Tage, you promised me you’d help,” Ben started begging--

 

“Well I can’t,” Hux snapped. “I can’t do this. I can’t pretend to be you to the girl you’re in love with, because she loves you too, you daft fuckbucket. And I can’t be near either of you right now. You need to tell her the truth, because she just fucking kissed me and I can’t… I can’t do this,” he rasped.   
“What are you talking about?”

 

He expected the words to come from Ben’s mouth but they were too quiet, too soft, too afraid, and coming from the hallway leading to the bedroom. Hux hissed out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, clenching his eyes shut. 

 

“I’m sorry, Benny,” he offered weakly.

 

“Kylo, what’s going on? Tell me what?” she asked, her voice mounting from panicked to angry, her eyes flashing in hurt confusion.

 

“I’m not Kylo,” Hux spat. “I’m not Kylo Ren. I’m the guy who’s been in love with him for a decade and had to watch him fall for you, you stunning and perfect and troublesome...little girl,” he exclaimed, chest heaving and eyes wet from tears that he hadn’t noticed he’d shed. He rubbed furiously at his face and straightened his back to maintain at least a modicum of his pride. He needed to remind them, and himself, that he didnt belong in this equation, and definietly didnt belong with a girl more than a decade his junior.

 

Ben and Rey both stared at him, gaping in shock. “What?” Her voice was incredulous.

 

Ben stood still in his spot, seemingly terrified. 

 

“Rey, I can explain,” he started before she approached him rapidly and slapped him. 

 

“WHY can’t you have just been honest?” she asked furiously. “Do you honestly think I’d never find out?” 

 

“I didn’t want you to see how I looked, Hux is so much more attra--”

 

“You idiot,” she breathed out. “Why on earth do you think I wouldn’t want to see you for who you were? I would’ve liked you anyway you atrocious dolt. Just because Hux is in fact as attractive as you said---” Hux froze, Ben flinched and Rey stopped abruptly. She flushed, eyes wide, suddenly panicked. “I’ve...I’ve been dreaming about you… about you,” she said, eyes darting between the two men, taking on a crazed look. 

 

“Jesus fucking Christ--”

 

“You love me,” Ben stated flatly, still apparently in shock over it, and Hux wasn’t sure if Ben was shocked over his admission, or hers. His mind caught up with Rey’s last sentiment and he sputtered, alarmed. “Wait, dreamt how?” he asked, breathless and Rey whined in her throat.

 

“Gods, I wish was back at Finn’s…”

 

“I’m sorry, Rey,” Ben finally caught up to her. “I’m sorry.” It was all he could say and he said it over and over again for at least three minutes.

 

“What did she mean earlier, Ben?” Hux asked quietly when none of them had spoken for a few moments. “About what you said about me. I read the binder. Every last page you kept. You never even mentioned me.”

 

Now it was Ben’s turn to sputter, “Well I didn’t keep all of them in there for you to read, ‘Tage,” he said as if it were stupidly obvious and Rey offered a weak smirk at the pair of them.

 

“You’re both idiots,” she commented. “You work well together.” The boys both looked at her in surprise. 

 

“You’ve loved each other all this time and neither of you knew,” she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m definitely imposing,” she added as a muttered afterthought.

 

Hux shook his head vigorously, “You’re not. He’s been in love with you since day one. Which frankly is alarming, considering how young you were,” he added with a note of scolding, arching an eyebrow at each of them.

 

“You love me?” Ben said again, seemingly asking the room.

 

“Yes,” Hux and Rey replied simultaneously, waiting for him to get it.

 

“And...you’ve fantasized about me, but...with Hux’s…?” Ben choked out and Hux groaned. “YOUR fault, you ass,” he growled. “How...WHY?”

 

Rey settled herself down on the couch. The three settled into a tense silence with Hux jittering, anxious to move. “Tea please?” Hux nodded absently and went to set the kettle for the three of them.

 

“Ben, what did he mean by he read everything?” she asked softly, eyes unfocused. Ben hung his head, trying to avoid eye contact before he went quickly to to fetch the chatlogs. 

 

She fingered the pictures he’d had printed. Her smile. Her with Finn. Her graduation. She’d sent them, sure, but never thought he’d have kept them, at least not like this. She noticed notes in the columns. Things he wanted to remember. Inside jokes. Her birthday. Her favorite horror movie. She noticed the pages missing and frowned. “You left out the bits about him?” she asked.

 

Ben groaned. “Look, I love you. And I love him. And I asked him to help me protect you and I didn’t want him to know how I felt because it could ruin our friendship and I hoped maybe I could have a chance with you...but I know I fucked up because I mislead you and I’m so sorry.”

 

“This is such a mess.”  
“You’re telling me,” Hux uttered from behind them, passing her another mug of tea and nursing his own. 

 

“So… run this by me, Benny,” Hux began, “...’Tage,” Ben growled out in warning.  
“You, gloriously stupid oaf, fell for this girl and made her fall for you but...what, didnt think she’d like how you looked?”

 

Ben’s face soured, and Hux barked out a laugh. “You’re sexy as hell and you gave her my picture instead,” he laughed into his tea. Ben glowered at him. “You...I thought she was out of my league..but you… you’re,”

 

“Oh god. Ben, Armitage loves you. Armitage, Ben’s been in love with you since before we started talking. You’re both stupidly attractive. Now shut up and kiss you tremendously oblivious morons.”

 

They both turned to look at her before returning their gaze to one another. 

 

“I’m not sorry you kissed me, Rey,” Hux blurted out, eyes still on Ben. “I wanted to return the favor tenfold but it would’ve hurt you both.”

 

Rey sighed. “Yeah. You’re right.” 

 

Ben swallowed, eyes glued to his best friend’s lips. Hux drew up the courage and touched his cheek, brushing his thumb against his lip before pressing a chaste kiss to the soft, plump lips he’d fantasized about for years.

 

Ben didn’t respond immediately but when he did his hands went to Hux’s waist, pulling him tight against him. 

 

Rey watched from the couch as the two friends finally came to an...agreement. She smiled from behind the lip of her mug, closing her eyes as the steam floated up and warmed her cheeks. Because that’s why her cheeks were heated. Right.

 

Her eyes were still closed when she felt a chaste kiss to her forehead and looked up, startled, to see the brown eyes of a man she’d never seen until tonight but had loved for so long. Behind him, panting and eyes blown dark with passion, his friend, the man she’d never known but always dreamt of. Yeah. The steam. That’s why…

 

Ben fell to his knees in front of her and wrapped an arm around her in a tight embrace before kissing her neck softly. She moaned against his hair and drew him up to look at her. “You… you can kiss me,” she said quietly, eyes darting between the man on his knees before her and the man behind him. “You...you both can. If...if you want?”

 

Armitage Hux was never one to mince words. Especially not with Ben fucking Solo. But that night, words were entirely lost to him, stolen away with every kiss.


End file.
